


tonight is just another day

by stupidgaytree



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Engagement, F/F, First Dates, Fluff, NOT EXACTLY.. BUT YKNOW, Post-Finale, Short, cuts to that next one, i just wanted to write smth nice!!!!, lol, rated for language, this is not meant to be super elaborate or anything hence why the first scene just sorta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-08 08:41:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21232973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stupidgaytree/pseuds/stupidgaytree
Summary: "I've never been here before," Dani tells her conspiratorially, leaning over the table on her elbows. Aubrey itches to take Dani's hands in hers and so she does."I haven't been to most places here," Dani says, "In my defense, Barclay's cooking covers a lot of bases.""Yeah, that's pretty fair, actually.""But,"Dani says, "Now I get to come here with you. Which is pretty cool."





	tonight is just another day

**Author's Note:**

> hi! its me again. @vampsmooch on tumblr ! the title of this comes from don't cry, 2020 by COIN, which as a song doesn't QUITE fit this mood but. whatever! im gay, i do what i want

"Dani," Aubrey asks, "You guys have like, marriage here, right? Or something?"

Dani's fingers, playing through her hair, stop for a moment. Then they pick back up, easy as anything. Aubrey presses a little closer to her chest and listens to her sigh.

"Yeah, we do," Dani says thoughtfully, "Different process than Earth's, I'm sure, but definitely the same concept. I mean, you've met my parents."

Aubrey nods. "I was just wondering," she lies, "I realized I didn't know the word for  _ wife  _ or anything in Sylph."

"Oh, it's just," Dani says the word. It starts with a hard t sound and there's a vowel Aubrey can't really place somewhere in there. "There's one for  _ husband _ and just  _ partner, _ too, technically, but they're all pretty ambiguous. Sort of just a role thing? I'm not super sure, actually."

"Hmm." Dani's fingers press gently at Aubrey's scalp, and her heart pumps steadily under her ear. Aubrey stares up at her profile, half-obstructed by the angle she lies at. Her eyes are half-closed and her skin is flushed brassy and glowing where her blood comes closest to the surface. Aubrey doesn't dare say it out loud, but in her head she turns the word over a few times.

By morning she's forgotten it, and she doesn't ask Dani to tell her again. She watches from the corner of her eye as Dani changes out of her sleepclothes into something better suited for the travel and the work they'll do today. Dani catches her looking and grins, a little shyly, cocking her shoulder up and winking. Aubrey looks away, but she smiles too, nothing but warm.

_ Wife,  _ she thinks to herself. She must give something away in her expression, because Dani says, "You okay, Aubs?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Aubrey confirms. She glances at Dani again. She could just… tell her. It's no secret to Dani how much Aubrey loves her, and she's not a bit shy about returning it.

Later. They'll have the time.

Dani just sort of laughs. Aubrey is so stupidly, incredibly in love with how often she laughs these days. She brushes her hair back over her shoulders, wispy curls escaping its form to frame her face and neck. "That's good," she says simply.

"I've never been here before," Dani tells her conspiratorially, leaning over the table on her elbows. Aubrey itches to take Dani's hands in hers and so she does.

_ "Really?" _ she says, "Are you sure you lived here?"

Dani snorts. They're in an oldschool-style malt shop in riverside Kepler, complete with candy-red-and-white wallpaper that does  _ not  _ lend itself to a great visual experience. Dani wouldn't stop glancing at it in mild disgust, but luckily right now she's only got eyes for Aubrey.

"I haven't been to most places here," she says, "In my defense, Barclay's cooking covers a lot of bases."

"Yeah, that's pretty fair, actually."

_ "But,"  _ Dani says, "Now I get to come here with you. Which is pretty cool."

"Pretty cool," Aubrey echoes. "Shit, is this our first real date?"

Dani blinks. Then she cracks a smile that she half hides behind one hand. "I guess so."

"Fuck, alright!" Aubrey says. Very distantly she hears Sylvain snickering and tells Her that it's at least a little bit Her fault that they've been so busy that this is where they're at now. "Hey, Dani? I love you so much."

Dani hides more of her face with her hand, her grin somehow getting wider. She starts to say something, but she's intercepted when the server comes by with their food.

When it's set at their table and the server has left, they're both quiet for a few moments. Aubrey starts on her fries. Dani picks at her sandwich.

"You make me really happy," Dani says quietly.

Aubrey pauses and slowly swallows her mouthful of fries while she waits to see if Dani will continue. Dani is still staring down at her sandwich, but Aubrey gets the sense she's not really seeing it. She's still smiling, a little sheepish.

"I really love you, too," she says.

She looks up at Aubrey now, and Aubrey suddenly realizes at some point she let go of Dani's hands and she simply can't let that stand. She reaches over and takes Dani's left in her right. She squeezes gently, trying to will warmth between them and every good emotion it brings with it. Good emotion, good things, are all she wants for the two of them. Dani squeezes back.

Back in their room at the Lodge -- a real Frankenstein's monster of the things that had made them separate before -- Aubrey sits and thinks. Dr. Bonkers is by the foot of the bed, dozing for now (the remaining Lodge members took it upon themselves to essentially babysit him so she and Dani could go out), and Dani is sat cross-legged beside Aubrey, drawing something. She's been erasing and redrawing one section for the past few minutes and doesn't look like she'll be giving up on it anytime soon. Aubrey looks at her, and looks up at the ceiling, and down at Dr. Bonkers, and over their room.

"Hey, Dani?" Aubrey says, surprising herself with how casual she sounds. It's not that she's nervous -- no more than the regular amount of nervousness, anyways -- but, well.

Dani only replies, "Hmm?"

"I really wanna marry you."

It takes a moment, but Dani pauses.

"This isn't, like," Aubrey says quickly, "I'm not proposing right now. That would be sort of lame. I'm not sure about the Sylvain side of stuff but I'm kind of supposed to have a ring -- anyways." She fixes her gaze on the chest of drawers across the room. "Just, you know. Putting it out there."

There's a long pause where Dani doesn't even sound like she's breathing and Aubrey is horribly, irrationally certain she's screwed everything up. Then, loud and pitched high, Dani repeats, "You wanna marry me?"

Aubrey snaps her head around to look at her. "Of course I wanna marry you!" she exclaims. "Dani, you're my  _ best friend,  _ you know that?"

"You've told me a few times," says Dani, who's looking less and less dazed and more like she's going to start crying, and Aubrey can't have  _ that. _ She shifts closer, sits up, cups Dani's face in her hands. Dani leans into the touch, sniffling a little.

"It doesn't have to be soon," Aubrey says, "It doesn't even have to happen at all. I just wanted to tell you." She hesitates, then adds, "I have for a while."

Dani puts her hands over Aubrey's, slotting their fingers together, cool skin on Aubrey's warm. She just looks at Aubrey for a moment, then says, "You know I'm no good with words."

"I think you're great with words," Aubrey responds, "But you don't have to be."

Dani rolls her eyes. Her smile trembles a little, though she's visibly trying to stay more composed. "I'd really like to marry you, Aubrey. Sometime you should propose to me and then we can figure it out."

The grin on Aubrey's face is starting to hurt her cheeks. "Yeah?"

Dani nods, then leans forward, pulling Aubrey's hands down to her chest and holding them there. She kisses Aubrey on the forehead, just above her right eye.

"I shouldn't do it around Moira or Jake," Aubrey says thoughtfully, when Dani's lips have left her face. "They're probably betting on it."

Dani laughs, bumping gently back against Aubrey with the force of it. Aubrey could live here like this forever, she thinks, laughing along with her, clutching her hands tight, leaning in to kiss her on the lips. She wants to. She will.


End file.
